Planning commission moves to save homes.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

A dozen property owners in Florence are a step closer to saving their land from sliding into the Siuslaw River after the Lane County Planning Commission supported a critical zone change Tuesday night.

The commission voted 6-2 that a 10-acre patch of land steadily slipping into the river should be rezoned to allow for an emergency erosion-control effort, most likely a wall of rocks placed in the water to protect the bank.

The city of Florence and the county share jurisdiction in the area, and the county commissioners are expected in February to decide whether to approve the change, according to Stephanie Schulz, a county planner.

The crisis is rooted in approvals by the city of Florence years ago that allowed housing in an area that land-protection advocates and others believe is too close to a meandering river.

Homeowners along the riverfront have filed lawsuits against the city and developers as all sides argue over accountability and the millions of dollars in damage that erosion may cause.

The task of the planning commission was to decide whether to support redesignating the land in immediate peril, part of the 116-lot Shelter Cove development along the Siuslaw a few hundred yards east of the Pacific Ocean.

The river is taking land at an average rate of five feet per year, experts say.

The majority supported changing the land from "natural area" to "conservation," which would allow the riprap wall to be built, Planning Director Kent Howe said.

The wall couldn't be built without the change, because land deemed natural must be protected for wildlife - in this case, the piddock clam, which bores into shoreline rock.

Commission members debated whether research proves that the clam and other natural elements are either gone or not at risk and, thus, that the land change is appropriate.

Lisa Arkin, who dissented along with member Jozef Siekiel-Zdzienicki, said allowing the riprap wall will change river flow and hurt other natural areas.

"When will we understand the river is a force of its own?" she asked.

"You cannot always control it."

The majority, however, said the threat to homeowners is too significant to slow the approval process by rejecting the land change.

"I'm not going to stand in the way of protecting some property that people have invested in," commission chairman James Carmichael said.

Some on the commission expressed frustration with past approvals by Florence.

Commission member John Sullivan urged the commissioners to take over development in the area, a suggestion that was roundly supported but may involve jurisdictional tangles with the city and other entities.

"The coastline is a state treasure and needs to be treated as such," Sullivan said.

If the commissioners approve the land change, the riprap work could be done over the summer and fall, Schulz said.

Florence officials and Shelter Cove homeowners also sought rezoning of 190 acres to allow housing but then withdrew the request, Schulz said.